Cross-country ski stimulator machines have become popular, with the NORDICTRACK models sold by NORDICTRACK, Inc., being very popular. Such machines include a pair of skis slidably mounted on a frame to move forward and rearward in opposite synchronism, with resistance, to provide exercise simulating cross-country skiing. Such machines also encourage exercise by providing a rope that extends around a pulley which resists turning, with the person encouraged to pull opposite ends of the rope as he skis.
Experience shows that it takes about a week or more of use of the machine, for at least about 30 minutes per day, for a person to become comfortable in using the above-mentioned machine. As a result, it is common for a purchaser to try the machine a few times, and then store it away. The skis are spaced apart (center-to-center) by about eight inches and are each perhaps two inches wide to simulate cross-country skiing. The close lateral spacing of the skis provides insufficient lateral stability for a person to feel comfortable, until about a week of use. While the skis exercise the legs in a manner comparable to cross-country skiing, the exercise obtained by pulling on a rope, does not exercise the same muscles as are used in operating ski poles during actual cross-country skiing, and the pulling of ropes does not help train a person in the proper use of ski poles. An attachment for an existing cross-country ski simulating machine or a new cross-country ski simulating machine, or a new cross-country ski simulating machine, which enabled persons to become comfortable in the use of the machine over a short period of use and which provided exercise and training of arm muscles for actual cross-country skiing, would be of value.